okay but what if echo did testify in the senate.

what if it was broadcasted live, all over the galaxy, because they believed riyo would be proved wrong.

what if echo's words are sent out and heard by everyone, everyone listening, for once, to a clone, a clone who tells a story of horrors, of experiencing things no natborn could ever dream of surviving, of running and taking his family with him, of the desperation to provide his sister, the youngest of them all, with a life far, far away from war and harm, of watching, feeling, hearing his home destroyed, and being able to do nothing about it.

(fully imagining a scene similar to hevy’s testimony in @meridiansdominoes’s fic, just echo staring down every single senator around him, making sure every single one of them hears the words that he's saying)

omega would be standing with riyo, hidden away from the cameras, of course, but watching her brother with the brightest, most awe-filled eyes

rex, sitting in the warehouse with hunter, wrecker, and tech, watching echo and trying not to cry, because that's one of his boys up there, defending every single one of their brothers, protecting them.

tucked away, their children fast asleep, cut and suu listen, cut unable to stop the bittersweet smile as the brother he barely knows pours his heart out and tells the story of the clones.

somewhere, hunkering down, a deserter hiding, cody hears his echo, hears his ad, and all he feels is fierce, burning pride for him, and wonders about what the ramrod, reg-following shiny would think of himself now.

maybe crosshair hears the broadcast, watches it tucked away in his bunk, alone and exhausted, staring at the face of his ori'vod, and something starts to stir, something that makes his heart yearn just a little for his siblings.

and maybe, just maybe, hidden away on some isolated planet, there’s a trio of clones sitting in darkness.

one of the clones isn’t even listening to echo’s words, only his voice.

a voice he hasn’t heard in years.

far away from coruscant, fives shares a look with tup and dogma, and makes a decision.

they’re helping their brothers, continuing the fight they started.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

February 4, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

Today Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) proposed giving at least $3000 annually per child to American families. This suggestion is coming from a man who, when he ran as the Republican candidate for president in 2012, famously echoed what was then Republican orthodoxy. He was caught on tape saying that “there are 47 percent of the people who… are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”

Romney’s proposal indicates the political tide has turned away from the Republicans. Since the 1980s, they have insisted that the government must be starved, dismissing as “socialism” Democrats’ conviction that the government has a role to play in stabilizing the economy and society.

And yet, that idea, which is in line with traditional conservatism, was part of the founding ideology of the Republican Party in the 1850s. It was also the governing ideology of Romney’s father, George Romney, who served as governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, where he oversaw the state’s first income tax, and as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Richard Nixon, where he tried to increase housing for the poor and desegregate the suburbs. It was also at the heart of Romney’s own record in Massachusetts, where as governor from 2003 to 2007, he ushered in the near-universal health care system on which the Affordable Care Act was based.

But in the 1990s, Republican leadership purged from the party any lawmakers who embraced traditional Republicanism, demanding absolutely loyalty to the idea of cutting taxes and government to free up individual enterprise. By 2012, Romney had to run from his record, including his major health care victory in Massachusetts. Now, just a decade later, he has returned to the ideas behind it.

Why?

First, and most important, President Joe Biden has hit the ground running, establishing a momentum that looks much like that of Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933. Roosevelt had behind him stronger majorities than Biden’s, but both took office facing economic crises—and, in Biden’s case, a pandemic as well, along with the climate crisis--and set out immediately to address them.

Like FDR, Biden has established the direction of his administration through executive actions: he is just behind FDR’s cracking pace. Biden arrived in the Oval Office with a sheaf of carefully crafted executive actions that put in place policies that voters wanted: spurring job creation, feeding children, rejoining the World Health Organization, pursuing tax cheats, ending the transgender ban in the military, and reestablishing ties to the nation’s traditional allies. Once Biden had a Democratic Senate as well as a House—those two Georgia Senate seats were huge—he was free to ask for a big relief package for those suffering in the pandemic, and now even Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), who had expressed concern about the package, seems to be on board.

FDR’s momentum increased in part because the Republicans were discredited after the collapse of the economy and as Republican leaders turned up as corrupt. Biden’s momentum, too, is likely gathering steam as the Republicans are increasingly tainted by their association with the January 6 insurrection and the attack on the Capitol, along with the behavior of those who continue to support the former president.

The former president’s own behavior is not helping to polish his image. In their response to the House impeachment brief, Trump’s lawyers made the mistake of focusing not on whether the Senate can try a former president but on what Trump did and did not do. That, of course, makes Trump a witness, and today Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the lead impeachment manager, asked him to testify.

Trumps’ lawyers promptly refused but, evidently anticipating his refusal, Raskin had noted in the invitation that “[i]f you decline this invitation, we reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions (and inaction) on January 6, 2021.” In other words: “Despite his lawyers’ rhetoric, any official accused of inciting armed violence against the government of the United States should welcome the chance to testify openly and honestly—that is, if the official had a defense."

The lack of defense seems to be mounting. This morning, Jason Stanley of Just Security called attention to the film shown at the January 6 rally just after Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani spoke. Stanley explained how it was an explicitly fascist film, designed to show the former president as a strong fascist leader promising to protect Americans against those who are undermining the country: the Jews. Stanley also pointed out that, according to the New York Times, the rally was “a White House production” and that Trump was deeply involved with the details.

Trump’s supporters are not cutting a good figure, either. Today, by a vote of 230-199, the House of Representatives voted to strip new Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) of her assignments to the Budget Committee and the Education and Labor Committee. It did so after reviewing social media posts in which she embraced political violence and conspiracy theories. This leaves Greene with little to do but to continue to try to gin up media attention and to raise money.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had declined to take action against Greene—although in 2019 he stripped assignments from Steve King (R-IA) for racist comments-- and only eleven Republicans joined the majority. The Republican Party is increasingly associated with the Trump wing, and that association will undoubtedly grow as Democrats press it in advertisements, as they have already begun to do.

McConnell has called for the party’s extremists to be purged out of concern that voters are turning away from the party. Still, the struggle between the two factions might be hard to keep out of the news as the Senate turns to confirmation hearings for Biden’s nominee to head the Department of Justice, Merrick Garland.

Going forward, the attorney general will be responsible for overseeing any prosecutions that come from the attempt to overturn the election, and the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will question Garland, has on it three Republican senators involved in that attempt. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been accused by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of calling before Trump did to get him to alter the state’s vote count. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) both joined in challenging the counting of the electoral votes.

It is hard to imagine the other senators at the hearing will not bring the three compromised senators into the discussion. The Republicans have so far refused to schedule Garland’s hearing, although now that the Senate is organized under the Democrats, it will happen soon.

Trump Republicans are betting the former president’s endorsement will win them office in the future. But with social media platforms cracking down on his disinformation, his ability to reach voters is not at all what it used to be, making it easier for members of the other faction to jump ship.

In addition, those echoing Trump’s lies are getting hit in their wallets. Today, the voting systems company Smartmatic sued the Fox News Channel and its personalities Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, and Jeanine Pirro, along with Giuliani and Trump’s legal advisor Sidney Powell, for at least $2.7 billion in damages for lying about Smartmatic machines in their attempt to overturn the election results.

Republicans rejecting the Trump takeover of the party are increasingly outspoken. Not only has Romney called for a measure that echoes Biden’s emphasis on supporting children and families, but also Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) today released a video attacking the leaders of his state’s Republican Party after hearing that they planned to censure him for speaking out against the former president.

“If that president were a Democrat, we both know how you’d respond. But, because he had ‘Republican’ behind his name, you’re defending him,” Sasse said. “Something has definitely changed over the last four years … but it’s not me.”

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

Trump is handing Biden a booming inventory market A glance again: Shares shot up after Trump’s 2017 tax cuts supercharged company earnings, then plunged at file velocity when Covid-19 started battering the USA. Since then, nonetheless, they have been rocketing increased, repeatedly reaching all-time highs. Deep political polarization and a worsening pandemic haven’t been sufficient to carry Wall Avenue again. Regardless of this sharp rally, shares underneath President Donald Trump haven’t carried out in addition to they did throughout the first phrases of Presidents Invoice Clinton or Barack Obama, in accordance with an evaluation by my CNN Enterprise colleagues Matt Egan, Annalyn Kurtz and Tal Yellin. And among the current will increase may be attributed to Biden’s win, which buyers consider will generate substantial authorities spending to spice up the financial system. Shares have gained about 13% since Election Day as of Tuesday — the most effective post-election market efficiency for a brand new president in fashionable historical past, in accordance with CFRA Analysis. Biden has not put as a lot emphasis as Trump on shares as a gauge of the nation’s power or wellbeing. “The concept the inventory market is booming is his solely measure of what is taking place,” Biden stated of Trump within the closing presidential debate in October. “The place I come from in Scranton and Claymont, the folks do not reside off of the inventory market.” (Per the newest Gallup ballot, 55% of People have some publicity to the inventory market, many by retirement accounts.) Even so, Wall Avenue can be watching to see if market momentum may be maintained. Chatter has elevated in current weeks that company valuations, notably within the tech sector, have jumped too excessive. “Many buyers fear that the fairness market has rebounded too far and too quick and that there are indicators of extra beginning to emerge in components of the monetary system,” Peter Oppenheimer, Goldman Sachs’ chief world fairness strategist, instructed shoppers this week. “This can be a affordable concern provided that the rebound in equities because the bear market trough in March of final yr has been exceptional.” Oppenheimer stated that whereas a correction — or a ten% decline in shares from their current peak — seems to be “more and more doubtless,” the chances that shares will enter a brand new bear market, dropping 20% from current highs, within the subsequent yr seem “pretty low.” He factors to expectations of sturdy world financial progress in 2021 because the pandemic eases, in addition to “unprecedented” coverage help. On that entrance, nonetheless, unknowns stay. Whereas Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has emphasised that rates of interest might stay at historic lows for the foreseeable future, the destiny of Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package deal will depend on his capacity to generate some Republican help. In a divided Washington, that can be no simple activity. Netflix comes of age because it hits 200 million subscribers Netflix (NFLX) has come a good distance because it launched in 1997 to ship clients DVDs within the mail. The most recent: The streaming service instructed buyers on Tuesday that it now has greater than 200 million subscribers globally, after including 8.5 million within the fourth quarter of 2020 — beating its personal expectations. It wasn’t the one signal that Netflix has developed right into a mature participant in Hollywood and on Wall Avenue. The corporate additionally stated that it’ll now not have to borrow cash to finance day-to-day operations, and that it’ll discover returning money to shareholders by inventory buybacks. Investor perception: Shares are up 13% in premarket buying and selling, teeing them as much as hit an all time excessive on Wednesday. Competitors within the streaming market stays fierce, after all. ViacomCBS’ newly rebranded streaming service, Paramount+, will go reside in early March, the corporate stated Tuesday — becoming a member of an more and more crowded subject that additionally consists of Disney+, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Comcast’s Peacock, AT&T’s HBO Max, and extra. However buyers suppose Netflix seems to be in an excellent place to take care of its spot on the entrance of the pack. UBS, for instance, upgraded the corporate’s shares to a “purchase” ranking after it posted earnings, citing continued sturdy world subscriber progress “even [against] rising competitors [and] sturdy progress” within the first half of 2020. Wealthy Greenfield of LightShed Companions identified on Twitter that whereas buyers beforehand appeared anxious about how Netflix was going to finance its large content material manufacturing machine, the tone has shifted. The query now, he says: “What are you going to do with all of the money you’ll begin producing in 2022 and past?” Janet Yellen previews Biden’s powerful stance on China Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to guide the Treasury Division, has made clear the incoming administration will keep a troublesome method to coping with China — setting the stage for extended tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Testifying earlier than the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, Yellen promised to tackle “China’s abusive, unfair and unlawful practices.” “China is undercutting American corporations by dumping merchandise, erecting commerce boundaries and giving freely subsidies to companies,” she stated. Yellen added that whereas the Biden group would work with US allies, versus performing unilaterally, she is ready to make use of the “full array of instruments” to deal with such issues. Biden has stated that he won’t rapidly get rid of Trump-era tariffs on Chinese language items. The stance was echoed by Antony Blinken, Biden’s nominee to guide the State Division, in his feedback Tuesday earlier than the Senate Overseas Relations Committee. “President Trump was proper in taking a harder method to China,” Blinken stated. “I disagree, very a lot, with the way in which that he went about it in numerous areas, however the primary precept was the precise one.” What it means: The battle between the USA and China on commerce and expertise has been a key supply of uncertainty for buyers over the previous 4 years. Beneath Biden, that is not going away. Up subsequent Joe Biden can be sworn in as the subsequent president of the USA at 12 p.m. ET. Additionally at present: BNY Mellon, Morgan Stanley (MS), Procter & Gamble (PG) and UnitedHealth (UNH) report earnings earlier than US markets open. Alcoa (AA) and United Airways (UAL) observe after the shut. Coming tomorrow: Economists anticipate one other 910,000 first-time claims for unemployment advantages, an indication of US labor market weak spot. Supply hyperlink #Biden #booming #handing #investing #market #Premarketstocks:TrumpishandingBidenaboomingstockmarket-CNN #stock #Trump

WASHINGTON | Kavanaugh's accuser wants FBI probe before she testifies

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/washington-kavanaughs-accuser-wants-fbi-probe-before-she-testifies/172261/

WASHINGTON | Kavanaugh's accuser wants FBI probe before she testifies

WASHINGTON  — Christine Blasey Ford wants the FBI to investigate her allegation that she was sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before she testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing next week, her lawyers said in a letter sent Tuesday to the panel.

The lawyers wrote that Ford, who is now a college professor in California, wants to cooperate with the committee. But in the days since she publicly accused Kavanaugh of the assault when they were teens at a party 35 years ago, the lawyers said, she has been the target of “vicious harassment and even death threats.” Her family has relocated, they said.

An FBI investigation “should be the first step in addressing the allegations,” the lawyers wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The development comes after President Donald Trump showered sympathy on his embattled nominee and as Senate Republicans and Democrats fought determinedly over who should testify at a high-stakes hearing on the allegation just six weeks before major congressional elections.

Trump has already rejected the idea of bringing in the FBI to reopen its background check of Kavanaugh. Should he order such a review, it would likely delay a confirmation vote until after the election. Republicans hope to have Kavanaugh confirmed by Oct. 1, the start of the next Supreme Court term.

Meanwhile, Republicans are suggesting that Ford, whose allegations have upended Kavanaugh’s nomination — the committee’s vote was already pushed from Thursday to likely next week — will have one chance to testify, and one chance only.

“Monday is her opportunity,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday, a line that was echoed by other Republicans throughout the day.

McConnell expressed confidence that Kavanaugh would be confirmed. “I’m not concerned about tanking the nomination,” he said.

The GOP chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said an FBI investigation wouldn’t have bearing on Ford’s testimony so “there is no reason for further delay.”

Grassley said the committee offered Ford “the opportunity to share her story” in a public or a private hearing, or staff interviews, “whichever makes her most comfortable. The invitation for Monday still stands.”

Said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, a key Republican on the panel, said, “We should proceed as planned.”

The furious jockeying over Ford’s testimony underscores the political potency so close to an election that will decide control of both the House and Senate, not to mention the confirmation of a conservative justice likely to serve on the high court for decades.

Democrats complain that Ford was not consulted before the hearing was announced. They also want more witnesses besides Kavanaugh and Ford, hoping to avoid what they said would turn into a “he-said-she-said” moment.

The lawyers for Ford predicted the hearing, as now scheduled, “would include interrogation by senators who appear to have made up their minds” that she is “mistaken” and mixed up.

But Democrats also said Tuesday they were planning to attend the hearing even if Ford did not show up.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he had “a lot of questions” for Kavanaugh. “A simple denial is not the end of questioning.”

As Democrats press for more time to investigate, Republicans have been careful to say that Ford should have her chance to speak, and they have stressed that they are willing to move Monday’s hearing behind closed doors, if she prefers.

“Were planning on a hearing Monday. It can be open. It can be closed, whatever Ms. Ford wants,” said Sen. John Kennedy, a member of the Judiciary panel from Louisiana. “We’re ready to hear anything she has to say. I am, anyway, and I think most of us are.”

GOP Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee — among a handful of Republicans who insisted on hearing from Ford before voting — said it would be a “shame” if Ford didn’t show up to testify. But he suggested Republicans will not bend from their offer of a hearing Monday.

“That would be quite something if she decided she did not want to testify,” Corker said. “I’d assume the committee would then move on as they should.”

One witness the Democrats want to hear from is Kavanaugh’s high school friend Mark Judge, who Ford said was in the room when she was assaulted. Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s allegation, and Judge says he doesn’t remember any such thing. “More to the point, I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes,” Judge said in a letter to the panel.

The risks of a public hearing starring the all-male lineup of Republicans on the committee could be high. Republicans said late Tuesday they were considering hiring outside attorneys, presumably including women, to question the witnesses. But that may be moot if Ford declines to appear.

Kavanaugh, 53, was at the White House on Tuesday for a second straight day, but again did not meet with Trump. The president said he was “totally supporting” Kavanaugh and felt “terribly” for him and his family.

“I feel so badly for him that he’s going through this, to be honest with you, I feel so badly for him,” said Trump, who has himself faced numerous accusations of sexual harassment that he’s denied. “This is not a man that deserves this.”

The No. 2 Senate Republican leader, John Cornyn of Texas, noted that Ford has admitted she doesn’t remember some details of the incident. He called the allegations a “drive-by attack” on the judge’s character.

“There are gaps in her memory,” Cornyn said. “She doesn’t know how she got there, when it was and so that would logically be something where she would get questions.”

Criticism like that fed a Democratic narrative that the GOP’s handling of Ford could jeopardize that party’s election prospects in the age of #MeToo, the response to sexual abuse that has torched the careers of prominent men.

“Now this is really what #MeToo is all about, if you think about it,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Judiciary Committee Democrat. “That’s sort of the first thing that happens, it’s the woman’s fault. And it is not the woman’s fault.”

Meanwhile, Kavanaugh has been calling Republican senators, including Kennedy, who said the nominee was committed to moving forward.

“He’s not happy, he’s upset,” Kennedy said. “He said very clearly and unequivocally, ‘This did not happen.'”

Ford went public with her story Sunday, telling The Washington Post that Kavanaugh had forced himself on her in a bedroom at a party when he was 17 and she was 15, attempting to remove her clothes and clapping his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. She says she escaped when Judge jumped on the bed.

By ALAN FRAM and LISA MASCARO, Associated Press

WASHINGTON | Ford wants her Kavanaugh claim investigated before hearing

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/washington-ford-wants-her-kavanaugh-claim-investigated-before-hearing/172246/

WASHINGTON | Ford wants her Kavanaugh claim investigated before hearing

WASHINGTON— Christine Blasey Ford wants the FBI to investigate her allegation that she was sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before she testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing next week, her lawyers said in a letter to the panel.

The lawyers wrote that Ford, who is now a college professor in California, wants to cooperate with the committee. But in the days since she publicly accused Kavanaugh of the assault when they were teens at a party 35 years ago, the lawyers said, she has been the target of “vicious harassment and even death threats.” Her family has relocated, they said.

An FBI investigation “should be the first step in addressing the allegations,” the lawyers wrote in the Tuesday letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The development came after President Donald Trump showered sympathy on his embattled nominee and as Senate Republicans and Democrats fought determinedly over who should testify at a high-stakes hearing on the allegation just six weeks before major congressional elections.

Trump has already rejected the idea of bringing in the FBI to reopen its background check of Kavanaugh. Should he order such a review, it would likely delay a confirmation vote until after the election.

Republicans hope to have Kavanaugh confirmed by Oct. 1, the start of the next Supreme Court term.

In a tweet Tuesday night, Trump wrote: “The Supreme Court is one of the main reasons I got elected President. I hope Republican Voters, and others, are watching, and studying, the Democrats Playbook.”

Meanwhile, Republicans are suggesting that Ford, whose allegations have upended Kavanaugh’s nomination — the committee’s vote was already pushed from Thursday to likely next week — will have one chance to testify, and one chance only.

“Monday is her opportunity,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday, a line that was echoed by other Republicans throughout the day.

McConnell expressed confidence that Kavanaugh would be confirmed. “I’m not concerned about tanking the nomination,” he said.

The GOP chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said an FBI investigation wouldn’t have bearing on Ford’s testimony so “there is no reason for further delay.”

Grassley said the committee offered Ford “the opportunity to share her story” in a public or a private hearing, or staff interviews, “whichever makes her most comfortable. The invitation for Monday still stands.”

Said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, a key Republican on the panel, said, “We should proceed as planned.”

The furious jockeying over Ford’s testimony underscores the political potency so close to an election that will decide control of both the House and Senate, not to mention the confirmation of a conservative justice likely to serve on the high court for decades.

Democrats complain that Ford was not consulted before the hearing was announced. They also want more witnesses besides Kavanaugh and Ford, hoping to avoid what they said would turn into a “he-said-she-said” moment.

The lawyers for Ford predicted the hearing, as now scheduled, “would include interrogation by senators who appear to have made up their minds” that she is “mistaken” and mixed up.

But Democrats also said Tuesday they were planning to attend the hearing even if Ford did not show up.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he had “a lot of questions” for Kavanaugh. “A simple denial is not the end of questioning.”

As Democrats press for more time to investigate, Republicans have been careful to say that Ford should have her chance to speak, and they have stressed that they are willing to move Monday’s hearing behind closed doors, if she prefers.

“Were planning on a hearing Monday. It can be open. It can be closed, whatever Ms. Ford wants,” said Sen. John Kennedy, a member of the Judiciary panel from Louisiana. “We’re ready to hear anything she has to say. I am, anyway, and I think most of us are.”

GOP Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee — among a handful of Republicans who insisted on hearing from Ford before voting — said it would be a “shame” if Ford didn’t show up to testify. But he suggested Republicans will not bend from their offer of a hearing Monday.

“That would be quite something if she decided she did not want to testify,” Corker said. “I’d assume the committee would then move on as they should.”

One witness the Democrats want to hear from is Kavanaugh’s high school friend Mark Judge, who Ford said was in the room when she was assaulted. Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s allegation, and Judge says he doesn’t remember any such thing. “More to the point, I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes,” Judge said in a letter to the panel.

The risks of a public hearing starring the all-male lineup of Republicans on the committee could be high. Republicans said late Tuesday they were considering hiring outside attorneys, presumably including women, to question the witnesses. But that may be moot if Ford declines to appear.

Kavanaugh, 53, was at the White House on Tuesday for a second straight day, but again did not meet with Trump. The president said he was “totally supporting” Kavanaugh and felt “terribly” for him and his family.

“I feel so badly for him that he’s going through this, to be honest with you, I feel so badly for him,” said Trump, who has himself faced numerous accusations of sexual harassment that he’s denied. “This is not a man that deserves this.”

The No. 2 Senate Republican leader, John Cornyn of Texas, noted that Ford has admitted she doesn’t remember some details of the incident. He called the allegations a “drive-by attack” on the judge’s character.

“There are gaps in her memory,” Cornyn said. “She doesn’t know how she got there, when it was and so that would logically be something where she would get questions.”

Criticism like that fed a Democratic narrative that the GOP’s handling of Ford could jeopardize that party’s election prospects in the age of #MeToo, the response to sexual abuse that has torched the careers of prominent men.

“Now this is really what #MeToo is all about, if you think about it,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Judiciary Committee Democrat. “That’s sort of the first thing that happens, it’s the woman’s fault. And it is not the woman’s fault.”

Meanwhile, Kavanaugh has been calling Republican senators, including Kennedy, who said the nominee was committed to moving forward.

“He’s not happy, he’s upset,” Kennedy said. “He said very clearly and unequivocally, ‘This did not happen.'”

Ford went public with her story Sunday, telling The Washington Post that Kavanaugh had forced himself on her in a bedroom at a party when he was 17 and she was 15, attempting to remove her clothes and clapping his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. She says she escaped when Judge jumped on the bed.

By ALAN FRAM and LISA MASCARO,  Associated Press